Facilitating Lifelong Engagement - from Year 4 Legends to Sport Excellence Program

ATC has a variety of sports on offer across four terms that strives to cater to the interests, abilities, and passions of all students who wish to participate. In addition to term sports, two specialised programs, the Sport Excellence Program and Year 4 Legends, have been produced, providing additional and tailored support for students.

Sport Excellence Program

Term 2 has seen the start of ATC’s Sport Excellence Program (SEP), an exciting and holistic human development program with the intention of ‘maximising sporting potential of ambitious athletes.’ SEP provides additional support for high achieving middle and senior school athletes (Years 7-12) to excel in their chosen fields, whilst maintaining life balance and well-being.

The Sport Excellence Program draws on the expertise, experience, and energy of a range of industry professionals to produce meaningful weekly sessions that alternate between athletic development, workshops, and coach/peer mentor sessions. SEP athletic development sessions aim to improve the health and well-being of students through guided sessions and open discussions with students. Mr Rhett Cope (Year 7 & 8), Mr Alex Jirasek (Year 9 & 10) and Mr Bryce Rankin (Year 11 & 12) are overseeing the Athletic Development and general wellbeing of their respective groups through tailored gym programs, wellbeing tracking, and consistent check ins.

Professional athletes, Jack Clayton (QLD Bulls Cricket and Nudgee Junior College Old Boy) and Lawson Creighton (QLD Reds Rugby Union), are Group Mentors for the SEP program. Jack and Lawson offer wonderful support and guidance for the students with their leadership, mindset, goal and habit setting, and problem-solving capabilities. It is highly beneficial for the students to engage with these two young men who have realised their own sporting dreams in recent times, by debuting for Queensland at a professional level in their respective sports.

Workshop sessions, designed and implemented by SEP program manager, Dr Kate Witteveen, PhD, support students with their mindset and a deeper understanding on how to achieve success. Workshop #1 focused on students’ identification of their own goals and habits required to achieve them, the power of the brain and a strong mindset, and the three foundations of success – grit, growth, and gratitude.

Year 4 Legends

The “Year 4 Legends” is an internal introductory program that introduces our youngest students to a range of sporting opportunities – cricket, rugby union, tennis, basketball, aussie rules, football, touch football.
Students develop their individual skills and athletic abilities such as teamwork, communication, sportsmanship, discipline, coordination, as well as respect for others, understanding constructive criticism, developing persistence, resilience, dedication, and patience.

This program is also a wonderful opportunity for students to connect with their peers and older students who support as coaches, all under the guidance of qualified coaches and the Sport Department. This program has been highly successfully since its inception in 2021, with over 50% of the Year 4 cohort registering and participating each term.

Through the implementation of specialised sport programs, the Sport Excellence Program and Year 4 Legends, the ATC sport department is looking forward to witnessing the progression, transformation and growth of the young athletes involved. If you have any questions regarding either of these programs, please contact the ATC Sports Office sport@atc.qld.edu.au

Jarrod Turner
Head of Sport